"The world needs to know this man's story. Here it is."

Wayne Kramer, as the leader of Detroit’s incendiary rock band The MC5, helped form the White Panther Party in solidarity with other organizations working for racial and economic equality during the Vietnam War, making him a target of the FBI’s counterintelligence program. After serving a federal prison term, he released ten solo albums. He is considered a pioneer of both punk rock and heavy metal, with Rolling Stone naming him one of the top 100 guitarists of all time. Alongside songwriter Billy Bragg, Kramer founded Jail Guitar Doors USA, a non-profit with a mission to help rehabilitate prison inmates by teaching them to express themselves positively through music.

What's Inside

Praise

"Wayne Kramer's story is an
incredible tale of rock 'n' roll redemption. The MC5 crystallized the '60s
counterculture movement at its most volatile and basically invented punk rock
music. But Wayne's life proved to be as chaotic as his groundbreaking guitar
playing. Rogue, rascal, rebel, revolutionary, artist, addict, inmate, poet,
prisoner, and now proud papa, Brother Wayne Kramer is one of the wisest people
I know, and he has earned that wisdom the hard way. The world needs to know this
man's story. Here it is."--Tom Morello, guitarist of Rage Against the
Machine, Audioslave, and Prophets of Rage

"Wayne Kramer is the biggest
badass in rock 'n' roll. Period. And The Hard Stuff proves it. Between
these covers is a story of survival, talent, madness, dope, guts, and a sheer, fearless
commitment to bringing straight-up enlightenment to this fascist, prison-happy
nation we happen to inhabit--even if it meant putting his own freedom, and his
own unbelievably epic life, on the line. This just may be the best memoir of
the year."--Jerry Stahl, author of I, Fatty and Permanent
Midnight

"MC5 fans will relish the opportunity to hear Kramer's version of events from the band's history...The Hard Stuff's lesson is an inspirational one: no matter how far you fall, circumstances can arise which lead you to a better place. Plus it's just wildly entertaining."—Midnight to Six

"The MC5 are the ultimate cult band: a rebellious group from late-1960s Detroit whose raw, proto-punk take on rock'n'roll influenced everyone from the Sex Pistols to Primal Scream. They never made it, though, and when you read this memoir by the guitarist and leader Wayne Kramer, you begin to see why. The Hard Stuff can be read as a manual of how not to become a rock star. Drugs, band feuds, jail and radical politics all combined to prevent stardom. This is a story of bad luck and bad behaviour in equal measure."—Times of London

"He defied death, drugs and detention. Now MC5 legend Wayne Kramer has written an equally full-on memoir...Eye-opening...Wide-ranging...His journey from fatherless child to musical maverick to junkie to upstanding survivor reads like a history of the late 20th century."—The Observer

"It should need no spoiler alert to state that Mr. Kramer eventually beat his addictions; memoirs are rarely written with a needle between one's toes. But that doesn't make The Hard Stuff a feel-good story...The book comes alive when bringing the reader into the heart of the late-'60s scene, where revolution seemed not just possible but plausible...The Hard Stuff is rarely poetic, but in its brutal honesty Mr. Kramer may succeed in deterring future musicians from contemplating serious drug abuse."—Wall Street Journal

"A thorough examination of his life, including musical adventures and drug misadventures that ultimately landed him in jail... The Hard Stuff covers the entirely of Kramer's life, with no attempts to hide any warts."—Billboard.com

"The Hard Stuff is a raw account of Kramer's life growing up in the increasingly mean streets of post-World War II Detroit, the glorious rise and precipitous fall of the MC5, and his decades-long addiction to drugs that led to his two-year bid in a federal penitentiary."—Vice's Noisey

"In The Hard Stuff: Dope, Crime, the MC5, and My Life of Impossibilities, Kramer documents his descent into his self-made hell and his reemergence into the world of the living. The book offers no excuses, just frank reflections on his own mistakes, misdeeds, and his path out of the darkness."—Omnivoracious: The Amazon Book Review

"Chronicles [Kramer's] upbringing in suburban Detroit and the rise of the MC5-a band that exploded onto the scene and seemed to fall apart just as suddenly-but he also attempts to provide a cautionary tale of sorts, detailing his struggles with addiction and his time in prison resulting from an arrest for selling cocaine to an undercover officer in 1975."—Spare Change News

"By the time he turned 30, Kramer had been the lead guitarist in a legendary but star-crossed rock band, a playacting Detroit gangster, and a guest of the American carceral system. All this living is covered in his new memoir The Hard Stuff: Dope, Crime, the MC5 and My Life of Impossibilities, along with Kramer's roundabout path to the life he leads today."—NPR Music

"For all the hardness of his life, his insights into addiction-drawn from his own, and his absent father's alcoholism-are shot through with an enduring, thoughtful empathy that makes The Hard Stuff such an endearing read."—MOJO

"Kramer was not just at the heart of the post-hippie revolutionary movement of the late Sixties but, a decade later, would also be an important influence on the punk generation. This is his turbulent, engrossing life story."—Choice (UK)

"Kramer writes with a self-lacerating clarity about life in The MC5 and their chaotic slide into drugs, disorder and prison. Every grim inch of the trip from boundary-smashing idealism to dingy realty is here, with a twist of redemption at the end."—Q Magazine

"Kramer intertwines the history of the group with the political climate of the late 1960s and his own struggles with addiction and imprisonment. The disparate anecdotes that comprise this confessional memoir form a mosaic of the music industry, race relations in the United States, the criminalization of drugs, and a musical revolution rising from the country's industrial core...By blending his own narrative with the trials of MC5 and by merging musical rebellion with social justice, the author has penned a contemplative diatribe against political authority."—Library Journal

"The Hard Stuff goes into depth about his 'life of impossibilities,' and in reading this book, it quickly becomes apparent why Kramer has been influential to countless major artists including Henry Rollins, Tom Morello and Jeff Buckley."—The Hype

"Kramer recounts a story that is revolutionary, but it's also the deeply personal struggle of an addict and an artist, a rebel with a great tale to tell...Kramer shows that peace and love can be born out of turbulence and unrest."—Music Connection

"Kramer's life has been a raging roller-coaster of euphoric highs and bottom-feeder lows. The now-sober superstar talks about all of it-the student demonstrations, police riots, crazy concerts, drug-fueled debauchery, wiretapping, marriages and divorce, prison time, therapy, recovery, and redemption-in his new memoir...Sure, we've been awed by other rock autobiographies...but we've never encountered a tale as turbulent and gritty as Kramer's. The Hard Stuff is a brisk, brutal page-turner wherein the Motor City 'white boy with the wah-wah' candidly chronicles the formation of one of rock's most outrageous ensembles."—AXS.com

"Throughout The Hard Stuff, Kramer refuses to shy away from his mistakes and puts most of the blame on himself. Despite the near-universal knowledge of the line 'Kick out the jams, motherfucker!' the band is still criminally underrated. Kramer delves deep into the band's founding and their role of mixing racial politics into their music's message...A fascinating read."—Innocent Words

"Detail[s] his years in the legendary Detroit band, MC5, an eventual decline into the criminal underworld, prison, the slow climb back out and the arrival of a child into his life...Kramer has a presence and, more importantly, he has heart...His book...is strong-voiced, concise and, at times, uncomfortably sincere...Kramer spends little time dissecting the finite details of his storied former band and, instead, focuses on the internal goings-on within his head and life...With each turn of the page, The Hard Stuff peels away his well-known brash facade, revealing an intelligent and damaged man looking for some kind of redemption."—No Recess!

"A rollicking read...The Hard Stuff takes us through the rise and fall of the 5, Kramer's slide into crime, his imprisonment for drug dealing, ongoing battles with booze and smack, career revival and personal redemption through hard work and love."—I-94 Bar

"There's no hyperbole in saying that The MC5 were one of the most important bands to emerge from America during the 1960s, which is why it's so great that Wayne Kramer, one of the founding members of the band, decided to sit down and write himself a memoir...The end result-The Hard Stuff: Dope, Crime, the MC5, and My Life of Impossibilities-turned out spectacularly."—Rhino

"An honest accounting of everything the title states, from the rapid rise and fall of the MC5 over the course of three albums, the heroin addiction and drug dealing that landed him in prison, and ultimately the defeat of those demons, redemption, and late-in-life fatherhood that he calls 'the most meaningful thing I've ever done.'"—Orange County Register

"The 1960s rocker and (sometimes) revolutionary pulls no punches in his autobiography, delivering a detailed look at his life good (leading the rock powerhouse MC5, political activism during the late 1960s and early '70s) and bad (drugs, prison) in a voice as clear as the vocals on MC5's 'Kick Out the Jams.'"—Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel

The Hard Stuff

The first memoir by Wayne Kramer, legendary guitarist and cofounder of quintessential Detroit proto-punk legends The MC5

In January 1969, before the world heard a note of their music, The MC5 was on the cover of Rolling Stone. The missing link between free jazz and punk rock, they were raw, primal, and, when things were clicking, absolutely unstoppable.

Led by legendary guitarist Wayne Kramer, The MC5 was a reflection of the times: exciting, sexy, violent, chaotic, and out of control, all but assuring their time in the spotlight would be short-lived. They toured the country, played with music legends, and had a rabid following, their music acting as the soundtrack to the blue collar youth movement springing up across the nation. Kramer wanted to redefine what a rock ‘n’ roll group was capable of, and there was power in reaching for that, but it was also a recipe for disaster, both personally and professionally. The band recorded three major label albums but, by 1972, it was all over.